This is the third design in Illuminated Knits, a series of patterns inspired by illuminated Celtic manuscripts, using beautiful shades of Malabrigo yarn.

The border for this large modular triangular shawl is worked first, in a series of squares knitted in the round; the squares alternate between centre-out and centre-in, which allows the cable pattern to flow without interruption from one side of the border to the other.

After the border has been completed, stitches are picked up along the inside of the border, and the shawl body is worked upwards towards the neck using simple decreases, to create the triangular shape. The shawl is completed with an i-cord edging across the top edge, and a lace edging knitted on to the outer edge of the border.

Notes on colour choicesIn this pattern, Yarn A is used for the main cable pattern that flows across the border, and Yarns B, C and D are used for the background cable pattern, which is self-contained within each square (see photographs). In the sample pictured, Yarn A is light turquoise, Yarn B is light purple, Yarn C is medium purple and Yarn D is dark purple. The gradual change in the colour of the background cable pattern creates a subtle variation in colour across the border, however this pattern would also work well with just one background colour (if using only one background colour, you will require approx. 835 yds/(764 m), in addition to Yarn A).

Skill LevelAdvanced. Skills required include: • Provisional cast-on • Complex closed-loop cabling • I-cord cast-off • Slipped stitch colour-work cables • Small amount of WS cabling • Working squares in the round (centre-out and centre-in) • Basic lace Note that everything is explained in the pattern (or on my tutorials page at: lucyhague.co.uk/tutorials) so you don’t need to know how to do all these things in advance - but there’s a lot going on at once, so it helps if you’re familiar with at least some of these skills!